So on my travels I heard alot about Hampi. Mostly people had recommended it, so it sounded pretty great. Additionally I had read about it in the Lonely Planet, so I thought it can't be that bad. Especially the praise from fellow travellers was important. I arrived in the morning at Hospet, the closest Train station and took a bus to Hampi.
The german couple told me about the tourist office being a little weird and that the tour was actually nice and so I decided to try it. The guys from the guest house I was staying in had contact to the tourist office guy who led me into the temple, where the tourist office is situated. There he told me a tour was going to take place and I saw Nicole for the first time. She and I did the tour together with a group of people from Mumbai and Delhi. We had actually signed up for a bicycle tour, but the rest of the group didn't want to, so the guide shoved us into a rickshaw... not too happy we agreed, in the end I thought it was a good thing, because that day was very hot and the sun was burning. She also has a blog you can look up: Weegypsygirl (on facebook for example).
The german couple told me about the tourist office being a little weird and that the tour was actually nice and so I decided to try it. The guys from the guest house I was staying in had contact to the tourist office guy who led me into the temple, where the tourist office is situated. There he told me a tour was going to take place and I saw Nicole for the first time. She and I did the tour together with a group of people from Mumbai and Delhi. We had actually signed up for a bicycle tour, but the rest of the group didn't want to, so the guide shoved us into a rickshaw... not too happy we agreed, in the end I thought it was a good thing, because that day was very hot and the sun was burning. She also has a blog you can look up: Weegypsygirl (on facebook for example).
We saw a bunch of interesting buildings, old ruins and the guy explained alot. Meanings of carvings, animals you could see and other cool stuff. Apparently 30 years ago most of the ruins weren''t unearthed, so it was more or less just a small indian village untill people found out it was one a huge ancient city. That's why alot of people had to move away from their homes (they got land and some money as compensation) and so the village on the south side of the river (where most of the ancient city lies) was decimated and as soon as it looked promising tourists came and so almost every building is now accomodation for tourists/ backpackers/ ... Most have a restaurant aswell.
The guide told us he himself lived where they have now discovered old bazaar buildings and so his father had to move away and was compensated a little by the government, so the archeologists could dig.
The guide told us he himself lived where they have now discovered old bazaar buildings and so his father had to move away and was compensated a little by the government, so the archeologists could dig.
Just outside of Hampi Bazaar, the temple entrance is the big Gopuram to the left, everywhere ruins!
The three-headed Nandi - only in Hampi! (Nandi is the transport of Shiva)
One of the biggest monolitic Ganesh in India, the Muslims destroyed alot of the Hindu idols
(you can see the trunk and belly are damaged)
When an idol is destroyed Hindus will no longer worship it and not try to repair/ fix it. As soon as it is damaged it is no longer considered holy...
Even now they are trying to rebuild old structures or just restore how it looked, this is a Gopuram to a Krishna temple.
Many Shiva Lingam (phallic symbol depicting Shiva) were not destroyed - like this one - because the attacking muslims did not consider them idols (no picture of a diety)
Ruins in the palace area, many probably still to be recovered!
The old bathing place of the queen - a quite big pool only for her!
Another view of the palace area
Inside the "underground temple": Many bats! It is called underground, because by now you have to walk down to it.
Our guide said that is just because so much dust/ dirt/ mud got over it, so the level to walk and drive is simply by now higher than the temple and it was only now rediscovered.
Since then alot has been found, set free, rebuilt and belongs to a huge "open air museum". You would only have to pay to see a few places. But that charge is (at the moment) 500 Rupees for a foreigner, so many decide to just walk up a hill/ around the wall to see the building from a little further away, but save the money. Apparently alot of places have been made much more expensive in the last months, all from the archeological society of India (if I am not mistaking). Same happened with the temple near Mysore. Someone told me the Taj Mahal costs over 1000 Rupees now. Unbelieveable...
Well anyway, at the end of the tour Nicole told me she was paying less than I was. So I confronted the guy and got 100 Rupees back. Luckily. He told me that when I had booked the tour there were less people I had to pay more (blablabla...).
Pretty shady and it seems they do it more often. A few days later I booked a cooking class from him (or he remimded me I mentioned it to him) and he told me I'm paying 650, the other guy 750 and I shouldn't mention that to the other guy. The other guy told me later he was also paying the tuktuk aswell, so he was paying even more. So it wasn't too bad for him. Anyway I'd recommend asking how much you're paying when doing a tour/ activity in India, especially if you are alone in a group (it usually gets cheaper when more people book something).
Well anyway, at the end of the tour Nicole told me she was paying less than I was. So I confronted the guy and got 100 Rupees back. Luckily. He told me that when I had booked the tour there were less people I had to pay more (blablabla...).
Pretty shady and it seems they do it more often. A few days later I booked a cooking class from him (or he remimded me I mentioned it to him) and he told me I'm paying 650, the other guy 750 and I shouldn't mention that to the other guy. The other guy told me later he was also paying the tuktuk aswell, so he was paying even more. So it wasn't too bad for him. Anyway I'd recommend asking how much you're paying when doing a tour/ activity in India, especially if you are alone in a group (it usually gets cheaper when more people book something).
In all the tour was fine, we saw alot of buildings and got explained alot, which I thought was cool. Especially as me being a wannabe archeologist and loving old buildings, ruins and such. Just fantastic :D
Another day I went to the northern side of the river to see the places there and rent a scooter to get to the places. I visited a small village called Anegundi nearby, walked up to a temple devoted to Hanuman and drove to a lake, which was really nice.
On the way up to the Hanuman temple I met a few students from a university in Karnataka. They were nice and we chatted for a long time about studying in India and Germany. One of them thaught me a few words and phrases in Kanada (the local language of Karnataka), which I might actually need at some point in life. If I can remember them. The temple itself was rather small, but you could get free food (for a small donation) and it was nice meeting indian people my age.
The village was interesting. It had a really big wall around it, one I wouldn't have expected in such a small place. I drove around, got almost attacked by dogs, kids tried to scam me and I got a cute map from a guy, who works for an activity center there. Unfortunately the places recommended to me where closed (no season I guess) and the activities at the center I got the map from were all too expensive for a single person... but the tours sounded interesting, so if you're in a group it might actually be cool to go there!
From there I headed towards the west to see a lake. It was pretty cool. I stood next to a wall and when I peaked over to see what was behind I saw it was actually water! In theory I would have been to my neck in water if it hadn't been for the wall! Crazy! I drove around, a really nice drive, cool views, alot of warning signs saying a crocodile roams the lake, so you shouldn't swim. Poeple told me it's fake, so it is actually safe to swim there. I hadn't planned that, so I just drove around and returned the scooter in time for the last official ferry back to the south side. There is only one ferry between the places north and south of the river which is actually cheap (10 Rupees) but outside of their working hours it can get expensive (up to 100 Rupees + backpack fees). Oh yeah, sometimes they'd charge extra for your backpack! And the working hours aren't that long. Like 9 am till 5 pm... And of course if you leave in the evening or arrive by night bus that would suck.
In the north there is supposedly more life, party and so on for backpackers and tourists, the south - called Hampi Bazaar - is a little more calm and maybe even conservative (no beer or meat, if you don't know the right places).
Another day I went to the northern side of the river to see the places there and rent a scooter to get to the places. I visited a small village called Anegundi nearby, walked up to a temple devoted to Hanuman and drove to a lake, which was really nice.
On the way up to the Hanuman temple I met a few students from a university in Karnataka. They were nice and we chatted for a long time about studying in India and Germany. One of them thaught me a few words and phrases in Kanada (the local language of Karnataka), which I might actually need at some point in life. If I can remember them. The temple itself was rather small, but you could get free food (for a small donation) and it was nice meeting indian people my age.
The village was interesting. It had a really big wall around it, one I wouldn't have expected in such a small place. I drove around, got almost attacked by dogs, kids tried to scam me and I got a cute map from a guy, who works for an activity center there. Unfortunately the places recommended to me where closed (no season I guess) and the activities at the center I got the map from were all too expensive for a single person... but the tours sounded interesting, so if you're in a group it might actually be cool to go there!
From there I headed towards the west to see a lake. It was pretty cool. I stood next to a wall and when I peaked over to see what was behind I saw it was actually water! In theory I would have been to my neck in water if it hadn't been for the wall! Crazy! I drove around, a really nice drive, cool views, alot of warning signs saying a crocodile roams the lake, so you shouldn't swim. Poeple told me it's fake, so it is actually safe to swim there. I hadn't planned that, so I just drove around and returned the scooter in time for the last official ferry back to the south side. There is only one ferry between the places north and south of the river which is actually cheap (10 Rupees) but outside of their working hours it can get expensive (up to 100 Rupees + backpack fees). Oh yeah, sometimes they'd charge extra for your backpack! And the working hours aren't that long. Like 9 am till 5 pm... And of course if you leave in the evening or arrive by night bus that would suck.
In the north there is supposedly more life, party and so on for backpackers and tourists, the south - called Hampi Bazaar - is a little more calm and maybe even conservative (no beer or meat, if you don't know the right places).
This is one of the Ganeshs the Hindu threw into the water in their festival of Ganesh. Slowl the colour is being washed off, same as the statue itself
Now this is a centipede! (found on the way up to the Hanuman temple)
Now that is one big swimming pool! The dam I was talking about, it is pretty big!
Oh no! It's leaking...
I love that it just saya crocodile and not crocodiles - so there is just one?
Old derelict temple near Anegundi
The big gates to this small village Anegundi... Kind of oversized?
The last day I just wandered around the ruins. That is when I met Raji. He is a hindu monk who is currently taking care of a small Hanuman shrine in Hampi. When he saw me approaching he opened his shrine and waved me inside. I just entered and we talked. About religion, life and the world. He has some reservations about the violent muslim terrorists, but who doesn't. On the other hand it almost sounded as if he thought this religion was violent itself. But I think that might have been because he isn't that fluent in english. He often had to think hard about what to say and might have had a few "translation" errors. But it was interesting talking to a religious person of Hinduism once again and I stayed for some time. At one point he started making a necklace and gave it to me as a present, it holds the seed of a Rudraksh tree. This tree only grows where the tears of Shiva drop. He was for a few years in the Himalayas, as he told me, and gathered a few seeds and now gave me this as a present. Very glad a little excited I went on viewing other ruins and taking alot of pictures.
These carvings into the ground were numerous around Hampi. I think it shows people worshiping the gods in the temple, because this is still a common gesture, people throw themselves to the ground, hands towards the sacred idol and pray for a bit. So this might have been normal aswell back in the day (500 years ago)
Many small idol pieces found by archeologists, mabny show snakes, snake forms - all in one way holy I guess (in the temple area)
Another big gate, but this belongs to Hampi itself, supposedly the entrance to the temple area
Big place in the temple area, maybe a old water tank for washing the idols?
India... They leave their laundry in the old temples to let it dry... seriously?!
Oooo lala... Sexy carvings around the front columns of this temple!
Me after visiting Raji - with a brown bindi! (made by sandalwood powder he said)
My last picture of Hampi... the big Gopuram of the temple with its light on top. Around the streets you might be able to see old bazaar buildings
In the evening I sadly missed the sunset (it was very clouded anyway) and was too late to make it up the hill, but met Raji again. We did the Puja at his Hanuman shrine together (well he performed it and I was in there) and after that we went into Hampi Bazaar for a Tschai. We talked a little more untill I was too hungry and left for dinner. He invited me to the morning Puja, but sadly I had a train to catch. If I had known it was delayed I would have visited him again, but I cannot see into the future so I missed out.
Next time!
Next time!
Ramdon picture of today: Ben Hur would be proud! Found on many front wheels of rickshaws!
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